Actors

'I must be one of the very few actors in the business who’s never worked at the Orange Tree - something that I pointed out to Paul Miller on at least two occasions… But don’t offer me a job now, I prefer to be an audience member! It’s far too scary, that theatre in the round where you look out and see people’s eyes, literally a yard and a half away from you. I have really great admiration for the actors who do that fearlessly’

(Peter Davison, Actor, Ambassador, and Youth Theatre Parent)

Acting in the round and under a spotlight in such a tiny space is terrifying for some, electrifying for others. In a room small enough for the audience to reach out and touch the cast – see the whites of their eyes and the sweat on their brow – there is nowhere to hide.

A rehearsal for ‘Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act’, 2021.
Image credit: © Helen Maybanks.

‘There’s a sort of rule at the Orange Tree that as soon as more than a certain number of people stand up in a scene, a certain number of people have to sit down - otherwise people can't see’

(Clare Lawrence Moody, Actor)

To minimise the obstruction of sightlines, actors are forced into an elaborate dance – keeping an eye on who’s standing up and sitting down. Clare Lawrence Moody recalls a particularly memorable performance of ‘The Distance’ (2014), where eight characters were arguing on stage. Moody’s character was so angry with a character played by Helen Baxendale that she intuitively stood up to shout – much to the frustration of an audience member on the front row who exclaimed, ‘move over dear, I can’t see!’

In The Room, too, leaving the stage meant joining the audience – unless you were unlucky enough to be required to exit the theatre entirely, run down the stairs and through the bar in full costume and make up, dash out onto the street round to the back of the pub, dart up the fire exit stairs and make an entrance through the door on the other side.

'Leaving', 2008.
Image credit: © Robert Day.

‘We had people ringing up to say… “We want to book for the play that’s got Tom Courtenay in it"; but they didn’t even know what he was in… Back then, the actors when they were not actually on stage in the scene, would sit on the side on the pews where the audiences were, and it was really quite difficult because people were inclined to keep looking over at Tom Courtenay, even though he wasn’t actually on stage!'

(Gillian Thorpe, Former Administrative Director)

A vast number of actors in a vast number of guises have trod the boards at the pub and auditorium. Well-known performers include Oliver Ford Davies, Tom Courtenay, Jo Martin, Ed Stoppard and Sam West.

'I can't really praise everybody enough... actors were not in it for the money by any means. Equity rates applied and there was no question that people were any grander than anybody else'
(Marcia Bennie, Former Theatre Manager and Publicist)

Nicola Coughlan and Rhys Isaac-Jones in 'Jess and Joe Forever', 2016.
Image credit: © The Other Richard.

‘You take away a sense of pride when you see an actor starting out in their career’

(Elizabeth Heery, Actor, Ambassador and Youth Theatre Parent)

Up and coming actors have also made names for themselves at the Orange Tree and through its Youth Theatre, not least Kate Beckinsale, Fionn Whitehead and Nicola Coughlan. In 1995, a then unknown Victoria Hamilton made her stage debut at the Orange Tree in a revival of 'The Memorandum' by Václav Havel. On his daughter’s recommendation, Walters had auditioned Hamilton and cast her immediately. She also performed alongside Tim Pigott-Smith in the play that followed, 'Retreat'; the last play to be written for the theatre by James Saunders.

The Youth Theatre has given generations of young people opportunity to find their place in the world, gain in confidence and learn new skills. Sessions are led by professional creatives and participants have chance to perform in full-scale productions.

‘I kind of grew up in that room… I became an actor in that room’

(Ayla Wheatley, Actor and Former Youth Theatre Member)

Victoria Hamilton and Tim Pigott-Smith in ‘Retreat’, 1995.

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